Central Mississippi Speedway
Ragan picks up $2,500 at Central Mississippi
By Roby Helm
NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model SeriesWINONA, Miss. (May 8) — Chris Ragan of Ramer, Tenn., captured the Mid-State Nationals 50 presented by Kirk Auto Group on Saturday at Central Mississippi Speedway. Ragan, who earned $2,500, led the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series event on two different occasions, and took the lead for good on lap 31 from Friday's winner Eric Cooley of Fulton, Miss.
Ragan made it a clean sweep Saturday after also being the fast qualifier with a lap around the quarter-mile clay oval in 14.798 seconds. Ragan led the first 24 laps of the race before being passed by Cooley, who led the next six laps.
Larry Harrod of Plains, GA finished second, almost one second behind Ragan at the checkered flag. Cooley, the defending series champion, was third in the Crate Late Model special.
Cooley was collected by a lapped car while leading the race in turn two on lap 30. Cooley was able to continue and restart as the leader, but the front end of his race car suffered enough damage to cause him to lose the lead to Ragan.
A third-place finish for Cooley enabled him to extend his points lead to 52 points over Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, Ga. Turner was involved in a multi-car pileup on the front straightaway on the 14th lap, and ended up finishing 19th.
Justin McRee of Cuba, Ala., was fourth after rallying from an early-race pit stop and hometown driver Wesley Greene advanced 10 positions to finish fifth.
Mid-State Nationals 50: (1) Chris Ragan, (2) Larry Harrod, (3) Eric Cooley, (4) Justin McRee, (5) Wesley Greene, (6) Jay Burchfield, (7) Chris McElhenney, (8) Michael Blount, (9) Randall Beckwith, (10) Kevin Henderson, (11) Jason Michau, (12) Charlie Henderson, (13) Eric Car, (14) Troy Dixon, (15) Marcus Minga, (16) Kyle Berry, (17) Shay Knight, (18) Mike Campbell, (19) Matthew Turner, (20) Shannon Lee, (21) Johnny Stokes, (22) Jerry Inmon, (23) Jamie Tollison. Fast qualifier (among 23 cars): Ragan, 14.798 seconds. Consolation race winners: Burchfield, Cooley.
